Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 60864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
This was stupid. This was incredibly stupid. Now I was going to have to figure out how to keep my name out of the police report this was inevitably going to require.
Especially after I grabbed the mugger by the shoulders and plunged my knee right into his groin.
“Thank you,” the woman gushed while the man was still groaning and rolling back and forth on the ground at our feet. “Thank you so much.”
“Are you alright?”
“Yes,” she said. “I think so.”
“How about her?” I looked at the toddler now cradled in her arms. “That looked like a pretty hard fall.”
She kissed her on the side of the head and smoothed her hair back from her sweaty forehead. She was calmer now, and she looked over at me with wide, curious eyes.
“I think she’s fine. Aren’t you, baby?” She snuggled her closer. “It just startled her. But it could have been a lot worse. Seriously, thank you so much.”
At that moment, I wanted to dip out and run away like a vigilante so I didn’t have to deal with the police. But I didn’t get the chance. Before I could even take a step away from her, two police cars pulled up to the curb. It looked for all the world like we were about to get swatted, and I tugged the woman back away from the still-prone mugger so the officers could get right to the arrest.
As one officer reached down and pulled the man up off the ground, another came over to us.
“Can someone tell me what happened here?” he asked.
“I was taking a walk with my daughter. We had a couple of errands to run. I didn’t even notice the guy in the alley, and suddenly he was on me. He grabbed me and tried to yank my purse away from me. I wouldn’t give it up to him, so he hit me. Then he pushed my little girl.”
She choked up when she said that. It was obvious she didn’t care nearly as much about what she just went through as she did about what her daughter had experienced. I could see the emotion was overwhelming her, so I stepped forward slightly to get the officer’s attention on me and give the woman a break.
“I saw what was going on from across the street,” I said.
My hope was that the officer would accept a brief statement and I’d be able to be on my way. It didn’t work out like that. It took forever to answer all his questions, describe what happened, then go back and describe it again. When that was done, I had to go to the next officer and go through it all again.
When they drove away, the mugger in the back seat, she turned to me and let out a sigh.
“Thank you.”
“No problem,” I said, thinking about the minutes ticking by and wondering how many of them were past the time when I should have been at work. “As long as you’re alright.”
“I am. I will be. What can I do to repay you?”
“Nothing.” I shook my head. “I’m just glad I was there.”
“At least let me buy you lunch.”
“I have to work,” I said. “I’ll be there until this evening.”
She laughed. “Tomorrow, then.”
I nodded. The next day was my day off, so I could meet with her without having to worry about not getting to work on time.
“Alright,” I said.
“Great.”
We exchanged information, and I rushed away. I’d used up all the extra time I had that morning, and by the time I got into the diner, I was late. No one paid much attention to me as I rushed in and went for the time clock. Maybe this was going to be the moment when the Universe paid me back for my good deed by making it so I went unnoticed and could just slide into my shift.
“Jodi.”
And maybe that was still a bunch of poetic nonsense.
I turned around to face my boss.
“Mr. Murphy,” I said. “I am so sorry I’m late. It was out of my control.”
“This is the third time in the last month.”
“I know. But I really couldn’t help it. I know you hear from people when they’re late all the time, but I actually mean it. I have a police report to back it up,” I said.
I hadn’t actually meant to pull the crime witness card, but he looked angry, and it just kind of fell out of my mouth. The expression on Mr. Murphy’s face went from upset to worried in a split second.
“A police report? Are you okay? What happened?” he asked.
“I’m fine. There was a mugging, and I intervened. I had to talk to the police and everything. That’s what made me late.”
He looked at me for a few seconds, and I could almost see the gears turning in his head. Finally, he nodded.